Month

September 2014

Play-Doh & Popcorn Craft

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I was born with a creative soul. I didn’t have a choice, it was hereditary. I came from a family of artists. Every aunt & uncle on my father’s side had a God-given talent. Since I was a small child I have been drawing. For years I would flip through magazines & draw portraits that I found beautiful or interesting.

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When our daughter came along, I was anxious for her to reach an age where we could start drawing & crafting together. My hope was that some of that creative gene would be passed down to her.

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As you all know my daughter has indeed followed in my footsteps. She loves drawing, painting & doing arts & crafts with mommy. I have to admit I swell with pride with each new drawing & art project. She has amazing vision. Here is an underwater drawing that she made, complete with sea creatures.

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This is a drawing of a savanna. My two year old daughter actually used the word savanna while making this. What a little smarty.

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Mai asked me to make her some Play-Doh tonight. So we did. We made a lot of it. With all that extra dough, we decided it was craft time.

What you will need:

Play-Doh or colored clay

A piece of cardboard

Popcorn

Sugar

Water

Food Coloring

Directions:

Find a square or rectangular piece of cardboard.
Find a square or rectangular piece of cardboard.
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Choose a color for your sky & roll it out over the top portion of your cardboard. It does not have to be perfect.
Add your tree trunk & grass using your dough.
Add your tree trunk & grass using your dough.
Add a background color to cover our whole board.
Add a background color to cover the whole board.
Make popcorn & set aside to cool.
Make popcorn & set aside to cool.
To color our popcorn, I followed the directions from this sight. I needed to use more water in mine. Add more water as needed. http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Rainbow-Popcorn Pour the different colored mixtures over separate containers of popcorn & allow to dry.
To color our popcorn, I followed the directions from this site. I needed to use more water in mine. Add more water as needed.
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Rainbow-Popcorn
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Pour the different colored mixtures over separate containers of popcorn & allow to dry.
Give your child the mat & explain to them that the popcorn is for leaves.
Give your child the mat & explain to them that the popcorn is for leaves.

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There goes that maternal pride again. She made a beautiful tree with her popcorn. She showed me as she placed each popcorn leaf. “Look mama, I make a orange leaf. Seeeeeee.” I was very impressed that she placed every piece around the branches all by herself. She was proud too. Mai was so excited to show off her artwork that she woke up daddy from a much needed nap to show him her lovely craft. Daddy was proud too.

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Parenting- The Good, The Bad & The Nasty

IMG_4824This weekend, I had a rare opportunity to get away for a night with the girls. The conversation as it often does shifted to our husbands and our children. One of the ladies in our company did not have any kids. She listened as we told horror stories about botched birth plans, sleepless nights & a variety of other less than pleasant experiences. After sitting silently for a while, she finally chimed in, “The more I listen to people with kids, the more I realize that I don’t want them.”

I realized at this moment, that this is probably the case for any non-parent sitting back & looking in. How many of us only talk about the negative things, whether it be about our work, our husbands or our kids? The good stuff is never nearly as much fun to talk about. I find my friends and I arguing over whose child was the worst infant & who now has the most tantrums & meltdowns.  I think mine normally wins. There are many different facets to parenthood, some are good, some are bad & some are just plain nasty.

All of these things began as early as pregnancy. Some people I know loved being pregnant, I however did not. I had every possible pregnancy symptom that there was. If only 5% of pregnant women had it, I fell in that 5%. I had morning sickness, let me correct that, I had all day sickness for 8 out of the 9 months. My toothbrush terrified me to the core because of it.
I had nose bleeds, carpal tunnel, round ligament pain, hemorrhoids, constipation & heartburn so bad that I did not eat in my 3rd trimester. When my ninth month hit, I could hardly wait for my pregnancy to be over. I was eating fresh pineapple & eggplant, massaging the webs between my fingers & tweaking my nipples while simultaneously bouncing on a yoga ball. That baby needed to come out.

When the time finally came, nothing went as planned. During my 24 hour labor I had 4 botched epidurals, endless Pitocin induced contractions & an emergency C-section that was a thing of nightmares.

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In the hospital, I struggled as my daughter & I tried to learn together how to nurse & feed. Breastfeeding is not as simple as it seems. I cried for days as tried unsuccessfully to nourish my baby as an unsupportive nurse hollered at me for doing it incorrectly.

Once home, those tears continued as my nipples chafed, the lack of sleep set in, and I flipped through books & websites trying to find ways to get my daughter to stop crying.

Parenthood is a difficult thing.  You surrender your independence & your freedom to this little creature. You don’t realize how much you took for granted before. Things like running to the store for milk or going to the bank are no longer a simple process. Sleeping in is a thing of the past, unless you consider 7 am sleeping in. Your immaculately decorated home now looks like Romper Room threw up all over it. Trips to the grocery store alone feel like a day at the spa. You need to schedule time to take a shower. Privacy in the bathroom is non-existent.
You get pissed on, puked on & pooped on. You may even get lucky & have all three done at the same time. Freshly picked boogers will be handed to you on a regular basis. Your lunch menu consists of half-eaten, soggy cheese sandwiches & left over juice with backwash. Breastfeeding, diapers, potty training, tantrums & tears, these are all a part of being a mother or a father. I have been exhausted for the past 2 years, 8 months and 16 days.

Before we made the decision to start a family, these were the things that scared me off from wanting children. My friends never shared the good things with me. If you think that you can handle all of the above, remember that there must be some reason that even after all of this, women are still willing to try for baby #2. Being a parent is tough, but trust me when I say that it is worth it.

Here are some of the things that make it all worthwhile…

The first time you hold your new baby in your arms
The anticipation & excitement of every milestone
Watching & hearing them laugh
Every kiss, even the snotty nosed ones
Hugs
The first time you hear mama or dada
Seeing them grow & transform
The sweet sound of all the I love yous.
Seeing parts of yourself mirrored through your child
The awe & excitement in their face when they experience something new.
All of the funny things that they say that make you smile or laugh
Cuddles
The pride you feel as you watch them learn new things
Being the one that teaches them those new things
Unconditional love & forgiveness
Hearing them screaming “Mommy!” when you come home from work
Hearing them sing
Baby feet

What are your favorite things about being a mother? Let’s share all the great things too.

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Felt Birthday Cake For Toddler Play

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Our daughter is a fan of the television. I am not a fan of her watching television, but still we do let her watch videos & toddler appropriate programming in moderation. She does not like it when we shut off the TV. She is a smart cookie though & knows how to work her family.
Daddy: “Mai, we have to shut of the TV.”

Mai: “How bout, we watch Patriots.”

She knows her daddy’s weakness.

She also knows her nana’s. “Nana, do you want to watch Cooking Channel?

Mai enjoys watching cooking with her nana. She also loves helping in the kitchen and pretend cooking in her play kitchen.

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Her favorite pretend food to make is cake. She makes cakes out of Play-doh. She stacks her stacking cups to make tiered cakes & then decorates them with the cherries from her Hi Ho Cherrio game. There is a learning exercise on ABC Mouse that allows you to decorate cakes & she adores this. She will draw with her imaginary icing & place flowers & fruit all over her virtual cake.

To help inspire our future little cake boss to continue to make tasty treats, we came up with this felt birthday cake for her to decorate.

What you will need:

A medium sized plain cardboard hat box

Assorted colors of felt sheets

Yarn

Craft pom poms

Elmer’s glue

Glue Gun

Scissors

Pen

Directions:

Start with a medium sized plain hat box. You can purchase on of these at a craft store for only a couple of dollars.
Start with a medium sized plain hat box. You can purchase one of these at a craft store for only a couple of dollars.
Remove the top & trace out the outline of the top on a felt color of your choosing & then cut it out.
Remove the top & trace out the outline of the top on a felt color of your choosing & then cut it out.
Measure out and mark the felt to cover the side of your box top as well.
Measure out and mark the felt to cover the side of your box top as well.
Using Elmer's glue, glue down the top & sides. The Elmer's glue will allow the felt to dry flat & smooth.
Using Elmer’s glue, glue down the top & sides. The Elmer’s glue will allow the felt to dry flat & smooth.
To make my icing edge, I braided 3 long strands of yarn & used the hot glue gun to glue down along the edge of the box top.
To make my icing edge, I braided 3 long strands of yarn & used the hot glue gun to glue down along the edge of the box top.
Cut and glue felt to cover the bottom half of the hat box as well. Allow to dry before proceeding.
Cut and glue felt to cover the bottom half of the hat box as well. Allow to dry before proceeding.
Cut out colored felt strips about a 1/2 inch thick. Cut using a waving pattern on one side.
Cut out colored felt strips about a 1/2 inch thick. Cut using a waving pattern on one side.
Roll the strip to form your cake flowers.
Roll the strip to form your cake flowers.
Glue the flowers in place using a glue gun.
Glue the flowers in place using a glue gun.
To form a strawberry, cut out two heart shapes. Dot the heart shapes with a green marker to add seeds.
To form a strawberry, cut out two heart shapes. Dot the heart shapes with a green marker to add seeds.
Place a craft pom pom in the center of one of the heart shapes. Add hot glue from the glue gun around the edges & place the other heart over it, dotted side facing out. Press the edge together all the way around . Cut  out a small star shape in green & glue over the top center of the strawberry.
Place a craft pom pom in the center of one of the heart shapes. Add hot glue from the glue gun around the edges & place the other heart over it, dotted side facing out. Press the edge together all the way around. Cut out a small star shape in green & glue over the top center of the strawberry.
To make a cherry, I just used a red pom pom & added a green felt piece for the stem.
To make a cherry, I just used a red pom pom & added a green felt piece for the stem.

Cut out letters & numbers. Make as many different fruits & flowers as you like. Let your little baker go to work decorating their cake.

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Store cake pieces inside the box.
Store cake pieces inside the box.

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Mashed Potato Puffs

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A couple of weeks ago there was a sale on 10 pound bags of potatoes at the grocery store. I typically only buy half of that, but since the 10 pounder was cheaper than the 5, it was a no-brainer.

10 pounds of potatoes is a lot, even for a potato lover like me.  There are only so many days a person can eat mashed potatoes in a row. As you know, I love making recipes out of leftovers & anything that I am trying to get rid of in my fridge. Here is a delicious way to get rid of leftover mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

1 cup of left over mashed potatoes

1 tube of crescent rolls or crescent sheet

5-6 bacon strips cooked to desired crispiness

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375. Put 1 cup of mashed potatoes in a medium sized mixing bowl. Add the sour cream. If the potatoes are lumpy, mash or whip them until they are smooth. Crumble or chop your cooked bacon & add to the potato mixture. Stir in the cheese. Unroll the crescent dough. If using crescent rolls, press seam together to form a sheet & then roll out with a rolling pin. With a knife, slice crescent into 1 1/2 inch squares. (If the dough is too soft to work with refrigerate for 10-15 minutes to firm up.) Scoop a heaping spoonful of mixture & place in crescent square. Pull each corner into the center. Roll the bottom & sides with your palm to seal the seams. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

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These were a huge hit. I have admit that I was pretty proud of these. My husband even asked me to make more.

25 Things To Do With Your Kids In The Fall

 

I hate to sound like a broken record, but I can’t help it. My favorite season is here & I am not afraid to gush about it. Being a New Englander, I just can’t help but love the fall. One of the great things about it, is there are so many fun things to do with our daughter. Some we have done already this season & some are still on our to-do list waiting to be checked off. Not everything on this list applies to every region, but I am sure that you can find a thing or two that you can do together.563544_10201276819155774_680005_n

Continue Reading…

A Serious Case Of Mommy Brain

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I want to thank my friend Deb over at All About Parents for giving me the opportunity to guest post about ‘My Serious Case Of Mommy Brain’ on her fabulous blog. This post was originally posted on her site.

A very interesting thing happened when I was pregnant with my daughter. My mind turned to mush. I became very forgetful. I could barely hold on to a full thought. I would begin a sentence & then forget what I was talking about halfway through. I couldn’t remember the simplest of things.
“Honey, can you pass me that long silver thing with the buttons that changes the TV channels?”
“You mean the remote control?”
“Yes! Thank you! That is what that thing is called.”
My friends warned me about pregnancy brain & that it would get worse as my pregnancy progressed. The thing that they all failed to mention was that after my daughter was born that pregnancy brain would turn into mommy brain.
To read the rest of the post click through below…

Read the Full Post 

Can You Scold An Other Mother’s Child?

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Being a first time mom at 38, I was the last in my line of my friends to have a child. I had a difficult time relating with all of these friends when I was childless. There were many things I just did not understand.

One day while shopping at the mall with two of my friends and their children, one of the kids fell behind in the group. At the time she was only a toddler. I watched as she walked over to the escalator. As she slowly stepped on, I screamed her name & told her to be careful. Her mother quickly scooped her up & we continued on our way. A little later, my other friend pulled me aside and reprimanded me. “You don’t do that.” she told me. “I didn’t want her to get hurt.” I replied. “You don’t ever yell at another person’s kid.” she told me. I learned that many mothers felt this way and took this to be some sort of unwritten mom code. I learned to hold my tongue when it came to other people’s children.

Fast forward a few years, I am at a birthday party & playing with my neighbors two sons. The mother stood at the entrance & watched as I entertained her sons with my goofy antics. One second the boys were jumping & laughing and then without warning they started to wrestle each other. I stopped, frozen with the curse of the mom code. My neighbor hollered at me, “Stop them! Break it up!” I quickly pulled them off of each other in a daze of confusion. What is the correct thing to do when dealing with other people’s children? As someone that did not have any kids of her own, I truly did not know.

After the birth of my daughter, my eyes were opened to all of the struggles and joys all of my friends had already experienced. It brought a new clarity and understanding. As my daughter reached a certain age, we began to be more social. I took her to the park, kid’s gyms, the library and anywhere where she could be around other children. Often the mothers would socialize and talk among themselves while their children played unsupervised. I found myself facing that same old dilemma. If I saw a child that was about to do something that could put themselves or others in harm’s way, I am I supposed to sit back and mind my own business or do I risk the mother’s wrath and speak up?

I will take the wrath. I cannot keep quiet if I see a child dangerously close to the end of a jungle gym. I won’t bite my tongue if I see one kid hurling toys at another one’s head. I won’t because what if the day I stay quiet, someone gets hurt and what if one day it is my daughter throwing toys or standing to close to the edge, I would hope someone e would speak up for me.

Recently while at an amusement park, I saw a young child struggling to get off her ride. She looked as if she might fall, so I gave her my hand to climb down. The mother very defensively grabbed her hand and pulled her away. What a strange reaction I thought.

As mothers, we all have the same goal, we all face the same challenges and we all need help once in a while.  Nobody wants their child to get hurt and I am sure nobody wants their children to hurt anyone else, whether it is physically or emotionally, so why is it so taboo to address another mother’s child. If it done in a respectful manner, shouldn’t we all welcome the extra set of eyes when our backs are turned.

Gingerbread Haunted House

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My child has very little concept of time. It is hilarious because she knows the names of the days of the week and she will use them with no real understanding of when that day actually is. She will reminisce about a something that happened weeks ago & retell it saying that it just happened yesterday. It is no surprise then that she does not have much of a grasp on the seasons or when the holidays fall. Most of the summer Mai had been asking me to make a gingerbread house. Trying to explain to my daughter that we were in the wrong season for gingerbread is pointless. Last week she was especially insistent, so what is a mommy to do?  I promised her that we would make gingerbread houses. To keep with the theme of the season, we made haunted houses. I found this great recipe for pumpkin gingerbread online.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Pumpkin-Spice-Bread-Halloween-House/?ALLSTEPS

We doubled the recipe for our house.

I measured out the ingredients & handed them to Mai. She sang Patty Cake as she mixed & rolled out her dough. My girl loves to cook.

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We drew out templates earlier in the day, stocked up on candy & made our icing.

Royal Icing

2 eggs whites

1 box of confectioners sugar

Beat eggs until frothy & mix in the sugar until smooth. Add the icing to your piping bag.

As we were working with raw egg, I also used store bought icing for Mai to use when she decorated.

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With the leftover gingerbread I rolled out a haunted tree.

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After you have baked your gingerbread, be sure to trim and straighten edges. Cut out any windows or doors.

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Generously apply icing & assemble your house. Use items around your house to hold your pieces upright and pushed together.

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Once your house is assembled, you can start decorating. We used After 5 thin mints for our roof eaves

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Mai helped out by decorating the tree with some M & Ms.

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We added orange gum drop slices, gummy worms, candy corns, licorice whips, Hershey kisses, pumpkin Peeps, M&Ms & mini Kit Kats to our house.

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While mommy was in charge of decorating the front, Mai got to do the sides. She hid M&M’s & gummy worms in the house through the windows. We gave her a bowl of icing to dip her candy in to make it easier. She dipped the candy in the icing & then decorated her face more than the house.

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It was a lot of work, but it was a fun project for me & the munchkin. I can’t wait for Christmas now to do it again.

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